In 1953 my parents and my four siblings migrated to South Australia. We initially spent six very hard months in Glossop, Berri, where we lived in an old workman’s out shed while my father was seeking house and work in Adelaide, while staying with Australian friends he had met in Read more
The Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) was officially invited to participate in a memorial service honouring the combined Australian and Allied Air Forces. Held on 29 March 2026, the event was organised by the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and the RAAF Association Queensland Division, marking the 105th anniversary of the Read more
This document presents a carefully compiled historical resource based on the newsletters of the Dutch Australian Society ‘Abel Tasman’ (DAS) in Tasmania. Drawing on issues published from the Society’s establishment in 1972 until its gradual decline, the study records every individual name mentioned in the newsletters, together with the context, Read more
The Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) and Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (BPPI) – the Indonesian Heritage Trust – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a framework for cooperation focused on the shared heritage of Indonesia and the Netherlands in Australia. The agreement recognises that the histories of Indonesia Read more
Introduction The Broome Historical Museum, operated by the Broome Historical Society, is one of Western Australia’s most important regional museums and a key institution for preserving the town’s maritime, multicultural and wartime history. Located in a small heritage precinct overlooking Roebuck Bay at Town Beach Reserve, the museum occupies several Read more
Introduction Among the most tangible reminders of the dramatic Dutch wartime presence in Western Australia is a salvaged engine from a Dornier Do-24 flying boat, now preserved in the Broome Historical Museum. Recovered decades after the Japanese air raid on Broome in March 1942, this artefact provides a rare physical Read more
Introduction The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme occupies a central place in Australia’s postwar history. Conceived as a nation-building project, it reshaped Australia’s energy and water systems while simultaneously transforming the country’s demographic profile. Between the late 1940s and the 1970s, the Scheme attracted tens of thousands of workers, the majority Read more
Roelofina Wisse-Borger, known within her family as Fiena, was one of the many ordinary Dutch citizens who demonstrated extraordinary courage during the Second World War. For her actions in hiding Jewish families during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, she was posthumously honoured with the title Righteous Among the Nations, Read more
Introduction The Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek (Perth) is one of Australia’s most important specialist aviation museums. Established by the Air Force Association of Western Australia and opened in 1979, it houses a large collection of military and civil aircraft, engines, aviation equipment, archival material and interpretive displays related Read more
Early life in the Netherlands Cornelis Antonie de Jong was born in 1916 in Asperen, a small rural town along the river Linge. He grew up in a family marked by poverty, limited formal education, and the social pressures of interwar Dutch society. Work was often seasonal or insecure, schooling Read more